Printing-press.



PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1908.

J. H. STONEMETZ.

PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 12, 1908.

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No. 898,075. PATENTBD SEPT. 8, 1908. J. H. STONEMETZ.

PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED MAE-.12, 1908.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. STONEMETZ, OF GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE CHALLENGEMA- CHINERY COMPANY, OF GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OFILLINOIS.

PRINTING-FIRE SS To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. S'roNEMETz, a citizen of the United States,residing at Grand Haven, in the county of Ottawa and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing- Presses,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in bed and platen ob printingpresses, and its object is to provide a throw-off mechanism forthisclass of printing presses that may be operated with the hand, or thefoot of the operator and may be so set that it may return to normalposition automatically, or may be so locked to position that the bed andplaten cannot be brought together though the bed continues toreciprocate toward and from the platen. I attain these objects by themechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is aside elevation of a printing press with the actuating wheel andconnecting rod removed from one side to more clearly show the positionsof the several parts that come in direct use with my appliance. Fig. 2is a like view of the upper portion of the press showing the hand leverin position to lock the bed to place so that it cannot approach theplaten close enough to make an impression upon material placed upon theplaten, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the press showing the inkingrollers in position to ink the form on the bed, and with the actuatingarm cut away to show the application of its actuating spring.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

It is often desirable and necessary to throw the bed of a press to sucha position that a printing form on the face of the bed cannot passforward far enough to come in contact with the face of the platen,without the necessity of stopping the press. This is accomplished byincreasing the distance between the bed and the platen by placing aneccentric behind the platen or the bed, or by a wedge acting upon afalse bed and heretofore these devices have been so arranged that theymust be actuated by the hand, thus keeping the hand so occupied that itcould not be used for other purposes, however great the necessity may befor regulating or arranging the matter being printed thereon, or

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 12, 1908.

Patented Sept. s, 1908.

Serial No. 420,732.

how necessary it may be to have the hand free to use for other purposesabout the press.

I am aware that throw-offs have been made with which the position of thebed is controlled by an eccentric actuated by a hand lever, notably,Letters Patent N 0. 586,931 issued to J. E. Lee July 20, 1897 andassigned to The Challenge Machinery Company, assignees of thisapplication, but I do not know of any throw-off mechanism in use uponplaten printing presses that may be -ward and from the platen O, and theplaten O is pivotally secured to the frame A at c in the usual manner ofconnecting platens to print-presses of this class. In Fig. 3 I show theposition of the bed B when at the backward limit of its motion, wherematerial may beeasily and safely placed upon the platen ready to receivethe impression of the type that is carried upon the bed B.

The wheel J, mounted upon the shaft 7', and the connecting rod Iconnecting the crank pin t on the wheel J and the shaft d on the bed B,constitute the usual mechanism employed for causing the bed toreciprocate toward and from the platen C. To carry out my invention Iplace an eccentric D in the bearing B, back of the bed B, so arrangedthat if the connecting rod G stands in the position indicated by thesolid lines in Fig. l the connecting rod I will be adjusted to a properlength to allow the bed B to be carried forward to a proper position toallow the type to press firmly upon material that may be resting uponthe face of the platen O and make the proper printing impression, but ifthe connectingrod is raised to the position indicated by the solid linesin Fig. 2 or the dotted lines G in Fig. 1 the arm 9, which is securelyattached to the shaft d, will be carried up to the position indicated atg and the eccentric D will be carried around to position to lengthen thedistance between the pint and the shaft (2 sufficiently to hold the bedB off from the face of the platen, as indicated by the dotted lines I)in Fig. 1 or the solid lines in Fig. 2 so that no impression will bemade until the eccentric D is again turned to its normal position.

Coming now to the elements that enter more directly into theconstruction that constitutes my invention, I provide for actuating theeccentric D in two ways. First, by the use of a horizontal lever Hcentrally pivoted to the frame A, as at 71,, and having a pedal H at oneend and a short link h connecting the pin g on the lever H and the pin hon the connecting rod G in such a manner that if the lever H is thrownto the position represented by its dotted lines in Fig. 1, theconnecting rod will be raised with it and carry the eccentric around, as

hereinbefore stated, and the distance between the points d and i will beincreased, as and for the purpose hereinbefore stated.

The lever H may be actuated by pressing the foot upon the pedal H, inwhich case the link F will assume the position indicated by the dottedlines F, made possible by the slot f in its lower end, and the leverwill assume its normal position as soon as the foot is removed from thepedal, or the lever may be actuated by the vertical lever E, which ispivotally secured upon the frame A at e and pivotally connected with theend of the link F at e, the lower end of said link being connected withthe lever H, as at f, so that when the lever E is thrown over to theposition indicated by the dotted lines E in Fig. 1, or the solid linesin Fig. 2, the link F will be thrown out to the position indicated bythe dotted lines F, in direct alinement with the lever E, and the leverH will be thrown to the posi tion indicated by its dotted lines and willso remain until the lever E is thrown over to its normal position, whichmay be done either by hand, drawing upon the upper end of the lever, orby pressing the knee against the upper end of the link F and forcingthat and the lower end of the lever E back to the position of the solidlines in Fig. 1. With this construction the lever H is so locked toposition by the lever E and link F that the bed B will be held away fromthe platen indefinitely without the necessity of occupying either handto hold the levers to place, thus leaving the operator free to leave thepress or to use both hands for adjusting the press or the material to beprinted upon.

In Fig. 3 I have shown the wheel J cut away so that the manner ofconnecting the connecting rod L and the platen C with the frame A may beplainly seen. In this view L represents the frame that carries the inkrollers O 0, supported upon the rods M and actuated by the springs N, inthe usual manner, so that they may be made to travel over the face ofthe form that may be held in the bed B and the ink distributing disk K,a feature common in all presses of this class. The roller frame L ispivotally supported upon the eccentric D and is actuated by theconnecting rod L, which is connected with the frame L as at Z and withthe frame A as at C so that the reciprocating motion of the bed willcause the frame L to oscillate in the usual manner for inking therollers O and distributing the ink upon the form supported in the faceof the bed B, not directly shown though its position is indicated by thedotted lines K in Fig. 3.

As it is not absolutely safe to rely upon gravity to draw the connectingrod G back to normal position when it is desired to resume printing, Ihave provided for assisting to carry this rod back by placing a stud gupon the outer surface of the arm A of the bed B and a like stud g onthe inner surface of the connecting rod G and placing a spring P uponthe rod Q, between these studs so that the re bound of this spring willforce the connecting rod down without possible danger of' failure.

The connecting rod G is connected with the arm g, that actuates theeccentric D, back of the eccentric for the reason that the upwardmovement of the frame L, when carrying the ink rollers 0 up to the inkdistributing disk K tends, by friction upon the eccentric D, to throwthe eccentric around so that, with the connecting rod G connected to theeccentric from in front this friction is likely to turn the eccentricand throw the bed back when not desired, but with the connecting rodconnected back of the eccentric, as shown in the several figures, thisrod will resist such friction and hold the eccentric firmly to positionso that there will be no danger of accidentally throwing the bed fromits nor mal position.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In combination with a frame, bed, platen, actuating wheel, eccentricshaft and eccentric of a job printing press, an arm projecting from theeccentric shaft, a horizontal lever centrally pivoted to the frame, aconnecting rod pivoted at one end to one end of said lever and at theother end to the arm on the eccentric shaft, a pedal at the free end ofthe horizontal lever, a vertical lever centrally pivoted to the frame, alink connecting the vertical lever and the horizontal lever and by suchconnection that the horizontal lever may be actuated by, orindependently of the vertical lever, to actuate the eccentric toincrease or diminish the distance between the bed and the platen.

2. In combination with the frame, -bed, platen, actuating wheel, crank,connecting rod and eccentric shaft of a job printing press, an eccentricmounted on the shaft and in bearings on the bed, a horizontal levercentrally pivoted to the frame, a connecting rod pivoted at one end toone end of the horizontal lever and at the other end to the arm on theeccentric shaft, a pedal at the free end of the lever, a vertical leverpivoted to the frame, a link pivoted at one end to the end of said leverand slidingly connected at the other end to the horizontal lever so thatthe horizontal lever may be actuated independent of the vertical leveror may be actuated and locked in place by the vertical lever, allarranged to actuate the eccentrics to increase or diminish the distancebetween the bed and the platen.

3. In combination with a bed and platen printing press, the mechanismfor changing the distance between the bed and the platen consisting of adriving wheel and cranks on the press, a bed having an eccentrictherein, a horizontal lever centrally pivoted to the frame, a connectingrod connecting one end of the lever with the eccentric, a vertical leverpivoted to the press frame and a link connecting it with the horizontallever in position and by such connection that the horizontal lever maybe actuated by, or inde endent of the vertical lever to actuate sailever and the eccentric shaft tohold and lock the bed away from theplaten.

4. In combination with a bed and platen job printing press, a horizontallever cen trally pivoted to the press frame, an eccentric connected withthe bed and having an actuating arm thereon, a connecting rod connectingthe end of the lever with the arm on the eccentric, a standard extendingdown from the bed and pivoted to the press frame, a spring and rodconnected at one end to the connecting rod and at the other end to thebed standard in position to force the connecting rod downward a verticallever centrally pivoted to the frame, a link connecting the verticallever with the horizontal lever by such connection that the horizontallever may be actuated and locked in place thereby, or may be workedindependent thereof.

5. In combination with the frame, bed, platen, eccentric shaft and armof a bed and platen printing press, a horizontal lever centrally ivotedto the frame, a connecting rod pivota ly secured to the eccentric armback of the eccentric and extending downward below the end of thehorizontal lever, a link connecting one end of the horizontal lever tothe lower end of the connecting rod, a spring arranged to force theconnecting rod downward, and a vertical lever pivoted to the frame andarranged to lock the horizontal lever in place when the connecting rodis raised for shifting the eccentric shaft to hold the bed away fromcontact with the platen.

6. In combination with the frame, bed, platen and eccentric of a bed andplaten ob printing press, an arm projecting back from the eccentric, ahorizontal lever centrally pivoted to the frame, a connecting rodpivoted at one end to the arm on the end of the eccentric rod andprojecting down below the end of the horizontal lever, and a linkpivoted at one end to the end of the lever and at the other end to thelower end of the connecting rod so that downward pressure on the freeend of the lever will cause the connecting rod to raise and throw theeccentric around to hold the bed from contact with the platen a verticallever centrally pivoted to the frame, a link connecting the verticallever with the horizontal lever by such connection that the horizontallever may be actuated and locked in place thereby, or may be workedindependent thereof.

7. In combination with a bed and platen job printing press, an eccentricshaft in the bed a horizontal lever centrally pivoted to the frame, anarm connected with the eccentric, a connecting rod pivoted at one end tothe arm on the eccentric shaft and projecting downward below thehorizontal shaft, a link connecting one end of the horizontal lever withthe lower end of the connecting rod in position to actuate the rod whenthe lever is actuated, a spring acting upon the connecting rod to forceit downward a vertical lever centrally pivoted to the frame, a linkconnecting the vertical lever with the horizontal lever by suchconnection that the horizontal lever may be actuated and locked in placethereby, or may be worked independent thereof.

Signed at Grand Rapids Michigan March JOHN H. STONEMETZ. In presence ofEARL O. CILLEY, ITHIEL J. OILLEY.

